Tallgrass Energy Becomes UW Athletics' First Jersey Patch Partner in History

Wyoming Athletics Director Tom Burman had been openly promising a jersey patch deal for months, telling anyone who would listen that the program wouldn't give it away cheaply. On Monday, the Cowboys delivered: Tallgrass Energy Partners, a Kansas City-based infrastructure company, became the first-ever jersey patch partner in Wyoming Athletics history, marking the largest corporate contribution the program has ever received.

The five-year agreement, facilitated by Learfield's Wyoming Sports Properties, will bring a multi-million-dollar investment to Wyoming Athletics and establish Tallgrass as the presenting sponsor of the Wyoming Kids Club. The Tallgrass logo will appear on Cowboy and Cowgirl basketball uniforms and football jerseys, covering three of the program's highest-profile sports.

"This is a groundbreaking moment for our athletic programs and the people of Wyoming who support us so passionately. The commitment made by Tallgrass will have an immediate impact on our ability to recruit and retain our best and brightest. We thank them for recognizing the importance of investing in something so important to the people of Wyoming, the Cowboys and Cowgirls," Burman said.

The deal arrives at a pivotal moment for college athletics. The NCAA voted to allow sponsored jersey patches during competition on January 23, and patches are set to take effect beginning August 1, 2026. Wyoming moved quickly, becoming one of the first Mountain West programs to lock in a partner after the rule cleared.

The partnership is not a cold business transaction for Tallgrass. In recent years, the company has invested more than half a billion dollars in Wyoming and built a strong relationship with the University of Wyoming by sourcing interns from the school, hiring its graduates, establishing the Tallgrass Lounge in the School of Energy Resources, and supporting initiatives like the CO2 Storage Excellence Fund. Tallgrass has been part of Wyoming's energy landscape for more than a decade, with hundreds of employees operating thousands of miles of pipelines and other critical energy infrastructure across the state.

Tallgrass is an established, industry-leading operator with large-scale, multicommodity infrastructure across 14 states, making the company's decision to anchor its most visible branding investment in Wyoming, rather than a larger media market, a meaningful signal about its long-term commitment to the state.

For the Cowboys and Cowgirls competing in War Memorial Stadium and the Arena-Auditorium, the dollars from this deal carry real weight. With athletic departments nationwide scrambling to fund direct player payments under the House settlement, multi-million-dollar corporate partnerships have shifted from nice-to-have revenue to competitive necessity. Burman's patience in finding the right partner, rather than rushing to fill the patch space cheaply, appears to have paid off.